Australian Fuchsias...

Press, Volume C, Issue 29517, 19 May 1961, Page 7

Australian Fuchsias...

Everyone knows the greenhouse fuchsia, which can also be grown out of doors in all parts of New Zealand where frosts are not too hard. The Australian fuchsias for Correas' are hardly less well known, for they are deservedly popular inhabitants of many gardens. One of their virtues is their long flowering season, and some types are quite reliable as winter blossoming shrubs. In full flower in my own garden at the moment are Correa bauerlenii and C. alba, whilat Correa speciosa has a few flowers of red and green, and many buds for next spring's opening. These shrubs do not belong to the “hit-you-in-the-eye’’ category—you have to see them close-up before they impress you—but they make excellent material for small flower arrangements, and have a character that is lacking in some of the more florid specimens we grow. Added to this is the rather unusual flower colours which they possess Correa speciosa <or reflexa, as some nurserymen call it» has red flowers with green tips to them. C bauerlenii nas greeny-yellow blooms, whilst C. pulchella—the baby of the group, only two feet tall—has flowers a lovely shade of soft pink Correa alba has rather poor, white flowers, out is firstrate as a small informal hedge for coastal districts. AU these plants are reasonably tolerant of dry conditions, although they will not suffer such extreme drought as will, say, the bottlebrush. Apart from C alba, which is fairly wind resistant, the group does like some shelter in the early years of their life, for the shoots are rather brittle and break off readily The best place for them is in a shrubbery with other nlants. where they can be mutually protecting.